It’s that age old problem as parents; you really, really fancy a curry but you just know that the kids won’t really fancy anything on the menu and then the moaning will start and before you know it – you are calling into a well-known burger place on the way home because they are starving having not eaten anything.

Well, that problem has now gone away. We tried out Maaya, the newest Indian Restaurant in Milton Keynes, located in The Hub, with our five year old. He’s not particularly picky when it comes to food but he’s never been to an Indian restaurant before, so we weren’t really sure what to expect with him. First impressions count, especially when you’re five, so when we arrived and they pulled out a kid’s menu plus colouring pens this went down very well. Never seen that in an Indian before?

We sat down and checked out that all important kid’s menu … and we were pleasantly surprised. They have Maaya Favourites which included mini chicken korma, mini chicken tikka masala or mini biryani (choose from lamb, chicken or veggie). A good choice but what if your little one doesn’t like curry?

Not a problem, as they also offer Maaya Classics; popcorn chicken, fish ‘n’ chips or a wrap (chicken or veggie) all served with peas and chips. Happy days! All dishes were a very respectable £4.95 including a juice or water (or milk as we found out when we asked).

After much deliberation; small person chose chicken korma, mainly as he wanted to be like mummy and daddy and have a ‘curry’. Now they say ‘mini portions’ but to be honest I could have eaten it when it came. Really good size and would happily have kept a much older child well fed! While we waited, he got stuck into the puzzles and colouring on the reverse of the kids menu, another sign that the restaurant has really thought about catering for the family market.

But let’s back track a bit … what about the main ‘adult’ menu? There is a wide range of dishes available but maybe not quite as many as on a ‘normal’ Indian menu … but I quite liked that – not so much choice to baffle you with. We chose good old Onion Bhajees from the ‘Street Snack’ section and then tried something different, going for the Paneer and Pineapple Sashlick from the starters. Both were incredible – the bhajee was so light and so flavoursome, and we discovered we really like Paneer!

For mains we went for the Lamb Pasanda and the Garlic Chilli Chicken … the Pasanda was mild but really had some amazing flavours. My other half said that although on the menu the Chilli Chicken had two little red Chilli’s next to it (to indicate its level of hot-ness) it wasn’t actually massively spicy, so would have liked a bit more heat.

But back to the small person … was he loving the new Indian restaurant experience? He sure was … and after finishing off the korma (couldn’t quite manage all of the rice) and sneaking some of our Naan bread, he even managed to ask for dessert. Choice of ice cream or cheesecake on the kids menu, he went for the cheesecake which was still a bit too frozen but the portion size was huge!

We even managed to share a dessert of Apple Jalebi (apple fritters with ice cream) but after that we were truly stuffed, always a good sign.

So, to sum up our visit … if you’re a parent craving for that curry but aren’t sure whether to take the kids, definitely give Maaya a try. But even if you don’t have kids and just want a very good curry in elegantly modern surroundings, with a good lively bar area you cannot go far wrong. This is a very welcome addition to the Milton Keynes dining scene and has the approval of a very full five year old.

Look out for their special offers (kids currently eat FREE during the summer holidays) and event evenings like Jazz Nights and others coming up soon.